Fort Ord, Monterey County -- The long search for Christina Marie Williams came to a wrenching end yesterday as authorities announced that skeletal remains found earlier this week are those of the missing 13-year-old.

The conclusion, made by using Christina's dental records, was exactly what relatives had feared most since the day she disappeared seven months ago while walking her dog near her family's Seaside home.

A long hunt for the two suspects has yielded no arrests. But as long as Christina was still missing, her family held some hope she might be alive. That hope evaporated yesterday afternoon.

"I've been praying to God to bring back Christina. I've been praying to bring her back whatever comes out," Alice Williams, Christina's mother, said between sobs after learning the news. "Now I'm praying to God that whoever took our daughter will get caught. You know who you are."

The remains were so deteriorated, investigators said, that they could not tell how Christina died. But they continued to call it a criminal investigation and vowed to keep examining the remains and pursuing clues until they find out exactly what happened to her.

"Since June 12, this community poured out its heart to the Williamses," a melancholy Bruce Gebhardt, special agent in charge of the FBI's San Francisco office, said as he announced the identification at a late- afternoon press conference. "This family now needs our support more than ever."

He urged the community to continue calling the FBI's hotline -- (800) 671-3343 -- with tips.

Meanwhile, residents living near the secluded spot where Christina's body was found told The Chronicle yesterday that they saw a suspicious man and car in the area around the time Christina vanished. The man and his vehicle matched those on an FBI poster of the prime suspects. Agents said they were looking into the report.

"We're going to take tips and go to the neighborhoods and continue this investigation," Gebhardt said forcefully. "Wherever it goes, we will follow it."

Investigators and a Navy chaplain delivered the grim news of the identification to Christina's parents shortly after 2 p.m. It came on Alice Williams' 47th birthday. The family remained in seclusion in their modest duplex for nearly three hours before emerging to talk.

"This is extremely difficult for us," said Michael Williams, a Navy meteorologist who has maintained a steadiness in dealing with investigators and the public throughout the ordeal that began June 12. "But we have the strength to pull through this. . . . There's no way I could be out here without the faith that I have."

He said knowing his daughter is not alive at least brings some closure -- and he urged everyone who can to take inspiration from her life to fight violence against children.

"If we can do something to prevent this from happening again, that would be a miracle," he said.

The family pastor, Don Love, tried to put more words to Alice Williams' grief.

"She's a mother," Love said. "She wants justice. She doesn't want those people in the streets to do this to anyone else."

Michael Williams said his family will spend the next few days grieving privately before making funeral arrangements. His son, Michael Jr., left school early to mourn at home, and his eldest daughter, Jennifer, is flying in today from Missouri, where she attends college.

Christina was the youngest of the family's three children. She had just completed seventh grade at Fitch Middle School, where she sang in the chorus and earned good grades. She loved pop music and animals, downloading pictures of dogs and horses off the Internet to make artwork for her room.

Her remains, mostly consisting of bones, black hair and shreds of cloth, were found by a University of California researcher in a rugged, bushy stretch of land just south of the town of Marina. They will stay with the Monterey County Coroner's Office, which made the identification, until forensic examinations are done, then will be turned over to the family.

Several neighbors near the body site said that shortly after Christina turned up missing, they saw a boxy sedan and a skinny male driver matching those on the wanted poster. The man and the car were seen on the roads and in the bushes near the site.

"I saw what looked like an old Ford Granada painted with gray primer pulled off to the dirt area near that site about a week after the girl vanished," said Diane Ehlers, an environmental director for California State University of Monterey. "The man driving it looked like the one in the poster -- young, thin, dark-complected with long hair.

"I called the FBI, and an agent came and interviewed me at my work. They seemed very interested."

FBI spokesman George Grotz said the two suspicious men, the skinny one and a heavier man, who have been hunted for seven months, "are still a focus of this investigation." Despite the long manhunt, rife with leads all over the country, there have been no arrests.

The nearest houses to where the remains were found are about a quarter-mile away, behind thickly wooded hills. It is easy to get lost in those bushes. The gray-and-brown, modest stucco homes are rented to staff and students of the state university campus.

Investigators had said Wednesday that after Christina's disappearance they did not search the area during their huge hunt that involved dozens of police and military personnel.

But yesterday, Presidio of Monterey Police Chief Alexander Kerekes said they were mistaken and that searchers had indeed gone over the area with dogs. Neighbors remembered seeing search teams in the bushes.

The area is so thick and brushy that it would be easy to stash most anything away from view, Kerekes and others said.

Indeed, last year a parachutist from a nearby airport died in the same general area after his chute did not open. Even though many saw him fall, it took several hours to find his body, officials recalled.

At Fitch Middle School, fresh yellow ribbons were tied to the entrance sign and a security guard kept reporters off campus. Principal Lelia Clark said grief counselors worked with students and employees all day.

The seven-month hunt for Christina was the latest of many such scrambles over the past decade as each new missing-child case, from Amber Swartz-Garcia of Pinole to Polly Klaas of Petaluma, raised the level of outrage throughout the state.

Christina's cause drew support from celebrities including pop singer Mariah Carey, the girl's favorite singer, and baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson, and became the FBI's highest-priority missing-person case in the nation.

The FBI is still offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to the arrest or conviction of those responsible for her disappearance.

THE LONG SEVEN MONTHS

June 12: Christina Williams disappears while walking her dog on the former Fort Ord Army Base in Seaside.

June 13: FBI takes over the case.

June 15: A jogger reports being verbally accosted by two strange men near the time and place where Christina was last seen.

June 16: FBI releases descriptions of the two men and their car, asking them to come forward for questioning.

June 19: A second witness reports seeing a frightened girl, who resembles Christina, in a car with the two men.

June 20: FBI elevates the two men from potential witnesses to suspects and calls the case an abduction.

June 24: The body of a young woman is found in rural San Benito County, about 30 miles from where Christina disappeared. The woman is first believed to be the missing 13-year-old, but dental records reveal that the female is a missing woman from San Jose.

July 15: Pop singer Mariah Carey films a public service announcement asking for anyone with information in the Christina Williams case to come forward. Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and Oakland Raiders running back Napolean Kaufman also made public pleas.

July 23: FBI offers $100,000 to anyone who can lead investigators to the arrest and prosecution of Christina's abductors.

July 31: Police in Greensboro, N.C., report that witnesses saw a girl who looks like Christina and a man who resembles one of the suspects in a Sam's Club there. Police are never able to find the pair.

January 12: A botany researcher finds a body on land belonging to the University of California Natural Reserve system. Investigators start trying to identify the remains, which have deteriorated because of exposure.

January 14: The FBI and local police announce the body is that of Christina Williams.